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You'd have to have, like, a lentil for a soul to hate wiener dogs. ~Zuzana from The Daughter of Smoke & Bones by Laini Taylor

Sunday, February 19, 2012

REVIEW: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi @harperteen

Description

Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse. Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive. A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky. In her enthralling debut, Veronica Rossi sends readers on an unforgettable adventure set in a world brimming with harshness and beauty. This enhanced edition contains the full text of the novel, plus this exclusive content:--A Q&A with Veronica Rossi--Veronica’s Favorite Things--A Playlist Inspired by Under the Never Sky--Behind-the-Scenes Development of the “Smarteye”--A Video Look Inside Veronica Rossi’s Writing Process--A Sneak Peek at Book Two: Through the Ever Night

About the Author

Veronica Rossi graduated from UCLA and studied fine art at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She began writing fiction for teens and received first-place awards in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association and SouthWest Writers annual contests before completing Under the Never Sky. It’s since captivated publishers in more than twenty countries worldwide and been optioned for film by Warner Bros. Veronica lives in northern California with her husband and two sons.

Product Details

Reading level: Ages 14 and up

Hardcover: 384 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins (January 3, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 006207203X

ISBN-13: 978-0062072030

SOURCE: PUBLISHER

MY THOUGHTS

ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT

Aria lives in a post apocalyptic world where the Earth has become so damaged with some sort of solar flare activity (at least this is how I understood the storms) called the Aether which causes the landscape to catch on fire and become charged with electricity. There are two main factions that inhabit the planet. Those who live in inside enclosed pods that protect the inhabitants from the storms and those who live outside in the elements. These outsiders have developed skills and evolved super senses to help exist in a mostly ruined climate. Those that live in safety have done so at a price since the genetics that make humans able to adapt has been bred out. The pods, for all their relative safety from the storms have become breeding grounds for psychological breaks. Her mother, a geneticist, sees this coming and tries to protect her and in some ways she does.

Aria finds herself at odds with the leader's son when he breaks and kills. She is essentially sentenced to death, but escapes and by luck or design, she is rescued by outsider, Perry, who saved her once in the pod. They are from extremely different worlds, so you have the whole Romeo and Juliet thing going on. The world building is entirely believable and it is so easy to slip into. The story is told in alternating chapters from each of their point of view which works nicely for this book.

This is one of those books that doesn't catch your attention right away, so for the few chapters, I thought, oh, just another sci fi story for teens, then I become totally wrapped up in the world. Aria has become one of my favorite female leads. She starts out weak and then grows immensely taking everything in as she learns to cope with her whole world turned upside down. Perry also grows into a new role as he finds he can almost trust her which for him is groundbreaking since his history has been one of incredible loss. Now, I can't wait until the next in the series.